Do Foreigners Have Strange Toilets?

What's Going On With These Strange Foreign Toilets?

Whoever you are, you are going to think that other
countries have strange toilets.
But remember, they are thinking the same thing
about your peculiar plumbing.
Someone from the U.S. wrote me:
"I visited Italy 3 years ago and had no idea
that some restaurants had in-ground toilets.
I was just aghast when I went into the john,
but eventually figured it out."

A toilet in the town where I live.

As I replied to her, try to imagine the poor visitor to the U.S.
They have just been subjected to what is among
the world's rudest and
most intentionally intimidating border crossings.
Then they enter a dirty American airport restroom.
They are now expected to press their bare flesh
against a plastic seat against which
untold thousands of strangers have rubbed their
bare buttocks since its last thorough cleaning.
And just what is this mysterious fluid dribbled all
over the seat?
This is the product of
an advanced civilization?

So, yes, everyone's toilets are different.
But "different" doesn't mean "worse".
For example, the squatter is a far cleaner
design for a public toilet.

Sadly, squeamishness and a fear of the unfamiliar
contribute to keeping so many Americans from learning
about other countries and cultures.
I started collecting these pictures and building
these pages after so many Americans told me something
along the lines of, "Well, I would like to travel,
but I just could not deal with
foreign toilets."
Then they smile proudly,
as if their fear and ignorance were somehow virtues.
If foreigners can put up with
nasty American public toilets,
then surely Americans could deal with other countries'
relatively clean ones.

Before venturing overseas for the first time,
Americans really need to know the answers to
a few basic questions: